Apparatus for feeding cigarette mouthpiece components



T. ROWLANDS APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTE HOUTHPIECE COMPONENTS Original Filed Nov. 22, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 T. ROWLANDS Aug. 4, 1964 APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTE MOUTHPIECE cowom'rs Original Filed Nov. 22. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 MIN-N702 A77'OR/VEYS MAMZwZ;

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APPARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTE MOUTHPIECE COMPONENTS Original Filed Nov. 22. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Wm [M United States Patent 3,143,292 AIIARATUS FOR FEEDING CIGARETTE MDUIIEIECE CGWONENTS Rowiands, Deptford, London, England, assignor to Moiins Machine Company Limited, London, England, a British company Griginai application Nov. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 71,091, now Patent No. 3,118,454, dated Jan. 21, 1964. Divided and this application Feb. 25, 1963, Ser. No. 260,577 Claims priority, application Great Britain Nov. 26, 1959 Claims. (Cl. 19834) This invention concerns improvements in or relating to apparatus for feeding cigarette mouthpiece components, and to the manufacture of composite mouthpiece rods for use in making mouthpiece cigarettes, and in particular, to the manufacture of such rods by forming a continuous composite mouthpiece rod and cutting it at intervals. The present application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 71,091 filed November 22, 1960, now Patent No. 3,118,454, granted January 21, 1964.

For convenience, a portion of mouthpiece rod of a length suitable for association with an individual cigarette will be referred to herein as a mouthpiece portion, while the expression composite mouthpiece rod is to be understood as meaning a portion of mouthpiece rod whose length is a multiple of that of a mouthpiece portion, and which comprises diiferent components arranged endwise in line (whe her in endwise abutment, or separated endwise) and held together by an outer enclosing wrapper. Thus a portion of mouthpiece rod which is double the length of a mouthpiece portion, and which contains more than one component, is an example of a composite mouthpiece rod. Such a double-length rod may be introduced between and joined to two plain cigarette lengths and then cut in half so as to provide two mouthpiece cigarettes. A further example of a composite mouthpiece rod is a portion of rod whose length is a multiple of the length of a double-length rod so as to be conveniently divisible into double-length rods, for example during the process of making mouthpiece cigarettes.

The word component where used herein is to be understood as meaning any portion of material suitable for incorporation in a mouthpiece portion. For example a component may consist of a piece of filtering material. In some cases a component may itself be composite in structure and comprise a plurality of portions of material, either arranged together or spaced apart, and joined by an enclosing wrapper. Where the context permits, the word component includes a pair or a group of components, arranged end to end.

Mouthpieces for cigarettes may take many different forms, for example a mouthpiece may consist of a portion of material (e.g. filtering material) enclosed in a tube but with a hollow open space at one end of the tube, namely the end which is to be put in the smokers mouth. Again, a mouthpiece portion may consist of two separate portions of material end to end, which may be of different character; for example one portion may be chosen for its filtering qualities, and may be located between the tobacco portion of the cigarette and another mouthpiece portion chosen chiefly for its appearance. In that case also there may be a hollow open space at the extreme end of the mouthpiece. Further, in a composite mouthpiece portion such as has just been mentioned, the two separate components may be of different lengths.

In making mouthpiece cigarettes, it is usual to use multiple-length mouthpiece rods (whether composite or not) of a convenient length for handling, and to subdivide these into double-length rods, each of which is then inserted between, and joined to, two lengths of cigarette rod, the resulting assemblage then being severed through the double-length mouthpiece rod so as to produce two mouthpiece cigarettes.

According to the invention there is provided apparatus for feeding mouthpiece components in succession on to a continuous wrapper, comprising a rotatable member arranged for rotation about anaxis substantially parallel to the direction of feed of the components and a counter surface located adjacent said rotatable member, the said member being provided with a screw thread whose leading face engages successive components and feeds them forwardly, the said rotatable member being further provided with a resser-surface so located as to engage at least the rear one of two endwise abutted, forwardly moving components and press such rear component against the counter-surface so as at least to retard its forward movement until the screw thread has entered between said two components so as to ensure their separation.

The counter-surface may be formed by a bridge piece over a conveyor which feeds the components towards the rotatable member.

Such an arrangement may be used where for example it is required to produce mouthpiece portions each comprising two separate components end to end, with a hollow space at the extreme end of the mouthpiece portion. For this purpose, pairs of relatively short, endwise abutted components (e.g. of one character) may be fed in alternation with single components (e.g. of another character) each of which may be equal in length to a pair of the shorter components. The presser-surface on the rotatable member engages at least the rear one of each such pair of short components, so that the said rear component is gripped and retarded, thereby enabling the pair to be separated by the screw thread, wtdch feeds the leading one of the separated pair into abutment with the single component which precedes it, and which is itself abutted against the rear one of the preceding pair of short components; thus groups of components are formed, each consisting of a single (e.g. a long) component lying between two short components, and the groups are spaced apart by the thread on the rotatable member. Thus when these groups are fed on to a continuous wrapper in this formation, a continuous rod can be formed which can be so subdivided, by stages, as to produce a double-length mouthpiece portion in the form of a composite rod consisting of two pairs of abutted components separated by a hollow space.

It will be appreciated that Very short mouthpiece components are often difiicult to feed accurately and the arrangement just referred to provides a useful means of achieving this, since initially the short components (which may, for example, be of a length such as is required for one component of an individual composite mouthpiece portion) can be fed as a pair end to end.

Apparatus in accordance with the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of part of a machine for making composite mouthpiece rods.

FIGURES 2 and 3 are views similar to FIGURE 1 but showing the parts in diiferent positions.

FIGURES 4a, 4b and 4c diagrammatically illustrate the product of the apparatus shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3.

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line V-V, FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 6 is a plan of part of FIGURE 5,. and

FIGURES 7 and 8 show arrangements for feeding short stubs in pairs.

The general arrangement of the machine is fully described and illustrated in the specification and drawings of copending application, Serial No. 260,564, now Patent 3,131,612, granted May 5, 1964 (also a division of my 3 said application Serial No. 71,091) filed concurrently herewith.

As described in my other divisional application aforesaid the machine includes two hoppers for mouthpiece components (which for the sake of brevity will hereinafter be referred to generally as stubs), a perforated conveyor 3 through which air is drawn into a suction chamber 4 by a fan connected to the suction chamber by a duct, and a conveyor tape 8 carrying a web 9 of stiff paper. The conveyor tape 8 is driven by a pulley, (not shown in the present drawings) which is adjustable so as to vary its diameter and thereby vary the speed of the tape 8. Folding, gumming and sealing devices act to fold and secure the stiff paper 9 about stubs which have been deposited thereon, to form a continuous composite mouthpiece rod. This rod is severed at suitable intervals by cut-off mechanism and the cut lengths or rods are deflected sideways by deflector mechanism.

Located above the delivery end of the suction conveyor 3 is a screw-threaded rotatable element 15, to be referred to hereinafter for brevity as a worm, whose screw thread constitutes feeding means for the stubs being feed to the paper 9. A short bridge 18 bridges the gap between the suction conveyor 3 and the paper 9, and provides a stationary surface over which stubs are pushed endwise by the worm 15.-

In the arrangement being described, the speed of the conveyor 8 carrying the paper web 9 is equal to the forward speed at which the stubs are fed by the worm 15. An endless belt 30 running beneath a shoe 31 at the same speed as the conveyor 8 controls the positioning of the stubs, which are gripped between the web 9 and belt 30, and maintains the spacing given to them by the worm 15 until they have entered the folding mechanism and the web 9 is partly folded about them.

Two stub-feeding devices associated with the stub hop- I pers are arranged respectively to feed stubs S, S on to the suction conveyor 3 at spaced intervals such that they alternate with each other, and are somewhat spaced part, as they approach the worm 15. The timing and speed of rotation of the worm are such that the thread feeds stubs forwardly at a speed which may be approximately the same as, or slightly less than, the speed of the suction conveyor 3. The body portion of the worm is suitably spaced from the conveyor 3 and bridge 18 to provide suificient clearance for stubs to move along beneath it freely. The suction chamber ends at a position a short distance along the length of the worm, and

beyond that position stubs are free from suction and can easily slip on the perforated conveyor 3. The latter passes around a wheel 3a and beyond that the stubs are supported on the stationary bridge 18. Since the forward movement of a stub over the bridge 18 is effected entirely by the thread 16, it will be seen that the worm controls the feed of the stubs at that position and regulates their spacing and their longitudinal position.

By the arrangement shown in the present drawings, it is possible to make composite rod from which mouthpieces each comprising two abutted components and a hollow open-ended tube can be produced.

In this arrangement, one of the stub hoppers feeds single stubs S, FIGURE 1, while the other hopper feeds pairs of stubs S, each of the stubs S being half the length of the stub S. These short stubs S are fed in end-to-end abutment as pairs by pushers 24 just as if each pair were a single stub. Apart from a small modification which will shortly be described with reference to FIGURE 7, the stub-feeding arrangements in the present case for feeding stubs on to the suction conveyor 3 can be the same as for the arrangements fully described in my other divisional application aforesaid.

The pitch of the thread 16 on the worm 15 is sufficient to enable one long and two short components to be accommodated in each space.

Close to the rear end of the worm (considered in the direction of feed) is a resser-surface formed by a slightly out-standing portion 32 of the cylindrical surface of the worm. This is shown in FIGURE 5 with its thickness, or amount of radial projection from the worm, somewhat exaggerated for the sake of clearness. The width of the surface 32 (that is, its extent axially of the worm) is about equal to the length of two of the short stubs S, and the worm is timed so that the surface 32 engages each pair of stubs S and presses downwardly against their cylindrical surfaces.

A short bridge 33 (FIGURES 5 and 6) extends over the suction conveyor 3 at a position such that it is directly opposite the rear half of the surface 32 (considered in the direction of movement of the conveyor 3) whenever the surface 32 passes over the conveyor. The bridge 33 consists of two parts but can be considered as a single entity with a groove down the centre, the purpose of the groove being to eliminate the possibility of a sharp edge tearing a stub at that place where the stub is suctionally held to the conveyor 3. The shape of the bridge is such that a stub moving in a forward direction is gradually lifted from contact with the suction conveyor 3 until it is lightly held between the surface 32 and the bridge 33. Each successive pair of stubs S is carried along by the pushers 24 which move from contact with the rear face of the rear stub of the pair S just before leading face of the leading stub of the pair S comes into contact with the bridge 33. The leading stub of the pair is then pushed over and past the bridge by the rear stub which is suctionally held by the conveyor 3. The rear stub, however, is momentarily arrested on the bridge by the surface 32, which comes into engagement with both stubs at the moment when the leading stub had passed over the bridge but while the rear stub is still supported on the bridge. Thus the surface 32 presses the leading stub against the suction conveyor so that it is suctionally gripped and carried along, but presses the rear stub against the bridge so that it is momentarily gripped and arrested in its forward movement.

By the time the surface 32 has moved away from the rear stub, the leading stub has travelled a sufficient distance to create a gap between the two stubs, the gap being wide enough to allow the start of the thread 16, FIGURE 3, to enter between the two stubs.

In the meantime, a long stub S behind the pair of stubs S has travelled forwardly substantially or almost into abutment with the rear stub S, and by its continued forward movement this stub S pushes the rear stub S over the bridge and against the rear face of the thread 16.

The rotational speed of the worm is such that the rear face of the thread allows the stubs to travel forwardly a little slower than the conveyor 3, so that the next pair S of short stubs, FIGURE 3, is fed into abutment with stub S. In due course the resser-surface 32 comes into engagement with this further pair S of short stubs, and the cycle described above is repeated. The leading stub of this pair is thus abutted against the rear end of the long stub S and becomes the rearmost component of a group between two turns of the thread 16, the leading component of this group being the short stub which was the rear one of the preceding pair of stubs S. Each such group is spaced from the preceding and following group by a turn of the thread 16, and their spacing and also their longitudinal positioning controlled by the worm 15 while they are being fed by the worm.

The conveyor 8, web 9 and belt 30 travel at the same speed as that at which the groups of stubs are fed forwardly by the worm, and the groups of stubs are immediately gripped between the web 9 and belt 30 as they are transferred from the worm, and thus their spacing is accurately maintained.

The resulting continuous composite mouthpiece rod consisting of groups of stubs with hollow spaces between This rod is subdivided FIGURE 45. These rods are subdivided, preferably during manufacture of mouthpiece cigarettes, by cutting through the stub S, to produce rods or double-length mouthpiece portions as shown in FIGURE 40, in which such a rod is shown between two cigarette lengths. The final subdivision is made through the hollow space, to produce two mouthpiece cigarettes. Each mouthpiece contains two components end to end, with a hollow openended tube at the extreme end.

The stubs S are preferably of a different character from the stubs S, the stubs S (which after subdivision will lie closest to the tobacco portion of the cigarette) being chosen for filtering properties, while the stubs S (which will mask the stubs S) may be chosen mainly for their appearance.

In the arrangement just described, as the mouthpieces to be produced are to have hollow open ends, the paper web 9 is of stifi paper.

In the example just described, the pitch of the thread 16 must be sufficiently wide to be able to accommodate groups of stubs each group consisting of one long stub S and two short stubs S are initially fed in pairs, each pair being the equivalent in length (in the particular exam ple illustrated) of one long stub S. On each revolution of the worm, one group of stubs is fed to the paper web 9 by the thread 16. Each such group can be considered the equivalent to two stubs or components, so that four components are fed during every two revolutions of the worm. It will be seen from FIGURE 4a that the continuous composite rod is severed through every second long stub S. Accordingly, considering each pair of short stubs S as the equivalent of the one component, the cutofi operates once for every four components fed to the paper web by the worm. To put the matter in another way, the cut-E operates once every two revolutions of the worm. Accordingly, the gear ratio of the main drive to the worm is maintained at 1:2 and that of the main drive to the cut-ofi 1:1.

FIGURES 7 and 8 show an arrangement for feeding pairs of short stubs. The pushers 23 push the short stubs lengthwise in line along a support surface 35, which has a sloping part 36 up which the leading stub of each successive pair is pushed, as shown in FIGURE 7. A disc 37 has equally spaced fingers 38, which on rotation of the disc are brought in succession into engagement with alternate stubs; each stub so engaged is the stub immediately following a stub which has been pushed up the sloping part 36. This operation, as shown in FIGURE 8, raises the stub out of line with those which follow it, and into line with the preceding stub which has been pushed up the sloping part 36. Thus the two abutted stubs are raised out of line as a pair, and the rear end face of the rear stub of the raised pair is then engaged by a pusher 24 which accelerates the pair of stubs while feeding them on to the suction conveyor.

It will be seen that each of the fingers 38 has a subengaging surface of substantial length so as to ensure that the stub is lifted boily.

A cover plate 39 controls the pairs of stubs after they have been pushed out of line. The stubs are also controlled, while approaching the sloping part 36 and the disc 37, by a cover plate 49, which has a flexible extension 41 which can yield to permit the rear stub of a pair to be lifted by a finger 38, but holds down the stub immediately following the one being raised.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for feeding mouthpiece components in succession on to a continuous wrapper, comprising a rotatable member arranged for rotation about an axis substantially parallel to the direction of feed of the components and a counter-surface located adjacent said rotatable member, the said member being provided with a screw thread whose leading face engages successive components and feeds them forwardly, the said rotatable member being further provided with a resser-surface so located as to engage at least the rear one of two endwise abutted, forwardly moving components and press such rear component against the counter-surface so as at least to retard its forward movement until the screw thread has entered between said two components so as to ensure their separation.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including a conveyor arranged to feed components to the rotatable mem her and a bridge piece over said conveyor arranged to serve as said counter-surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,109,148 Gwinn Feb. 22, 1938 2,781,122 Guefiroy Feb. 12, 1957 2,886,200 Thulke et a1 May 12, 1959 2,890,787 Carter June 16, 1959 

1. APPARATUS FOR FEEDING MOUTHPIECE COMPONENTS IN SUCCESSION ON TO A CONTINUOUS WRAPPER, COMPRISING A ROTATABLE MEMBER ARRANGED FOR ROTATION ABOUT AN AXIS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE DIRECTION OF FEED OF THE COMPONENTS AND A COUNTER-SURFACE LOCATED ADJACENT SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER, THE SAID MEMBER BEING PROVIDED WITH A SCREW THREAD WHOSE LEADING FACE ENGAGES SUCCESSIVE COMPONENTS AND FEEDS THEM FORWARDLY, THE SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER BEING FURTHER PROVIDED WITH A PRESSER-SURFACE SO LOCATED AS TO ENGAGE AT LEAST THE REAR ONE OF TWO ENDWISE ABUTTED, FORWARDLY MOVING COMPONENTS AND PRESS SUCH REAR COMPONENT AGAINST THE COUNTER-SURFACE SO AS AT LEAST TO RETARD ITS FORWARD MOVEMENT UNTIL THE SCREW THREAD HAS ENTERED BETWEEN SAID TWO COMPONENTS SO AS TO ENSURE THEIR SEPARATION. 